Power Line Noise and Passing the $

[W7KKK]

For all I know they fixed the problems on the work order that their RFI identified. But I still have the noise just as bad as before and the RFI guy won't answer up to tell me the status so I just made it formal so we start tracking the issue.

[AE1P]

For all I know they fixed the problems on the work order that their RFI identified. But I still have the noise just as bad as before and the RFI guy won't answer up to tell me the status so I just made it formal so we start tracking the issue.

That is exactly what happened here, Ken. I have generated 3 W.O.'s with PSNH.
Keep generating work orders and complaining until its fixed!!
By the way, it has been pouring rain here all morning....and the bands are as quiet as a church mouse..
Pretty bad when you have to wish for a hard rain to quiet the "Buzz"
so I can play on the radio!!

[W7KKK]

Don't I know it. I would like to see some rain here in the mountains.
We are some 4"-5" short so far for the August-October period and they say that's our 10th driest monsoon season overall for this area.
17M hasn't been too bad at 5-7 the last couple of days, propagation is not too bad at times with QSB.
I take what I can get and hope I don't interfere with the weak stations.
For the most part I listen and try to stay off the air.
But I want to play with my new (used) TS-850!
Life is tough!
I am still thinking when my lease is up that a location next to the national forest might just work here with the 60-80' pines being available for my use.
In this rental I am pretty restricted as far as an antenna goes.
For now I wait to get confirmation that the work orders put in are complete or get the schedule they are too work them.
Failing an answer to the letter to the utilities CEO I guess the ARRL will follow up with their own letter.

[W8HDU]

At the Dayton FCC Forum last year, Laura Smith stated that power line noise and uncooperative utility companies was going to be one of their priority enforcement issues. Have you tried contacting her directly?

I'm sorry to say the madam's bark is worse than her bite. No action north of Dayton. I guess A.E.P. owns the F.C.C.

[K4KYV]

Don't I know it. I would like to see some rain here in the mountains.
We are some 4"-5" short so far for the August-October period and they say that's our 10th driest monsoon season overall for this area.

Wish you had some of ours. It rained practically every day throughout April, May, July and September. Projects that I had anticipated finishing by the end of June still aren't completed and I am struggling to take advantage of the few remaining warm, dry sunny days to finish up stuff like exterior painting. We had a week of rain so far in Oct, but the the past couple of days have been nice and the wx man promises us a few more, until the rain starts back up Thursday. Corn is moulding and rotting in the fields because the farmers can't get their heavy equipment in through the mud to harvest it.

[W0UZR]

That is exactly what happened here, Ken. I have generated 3 W.O.'s with PSNH.
Keep generating work orders and complaining until its fixed!!
By the way, it has been pouring rain here all morning....and the bands are as quiet as a church mouse..
Pretty bad when you have to wish for a hard rain to quiet the "Buzz"
so I can play on the radio!!

That means that you have a cracjked or dirty insulator then if the noise goes away when it rains. If the insulator is on the top of the pole, then eventually the pole should start on fire.

A long time ago this thread was on here. And one person replied to the topic and said that he heard of a ham operator that didn't get the power company to come and fix the problem with his line noise. And it was an insulator noise like yours. It would go away when it rained

So what he did was take the garden hose and spend most of the day spraying up at the insulator that was giving him his noise. He would shoot the insulator, go in and talk on the radio. Then after about 15 minutes it would dry out and start buzzing on the radio again and he would tell his party to hang on until he got back from spraying his power line insulator again. So he wouldl go out and grab the hose and spray the insulator again. He would do that most of the day every day. Stand out there spraying the insulator.

Well, the neighbors called the police. When the police came, the ham explained what he was spraying the insulator for. I'm not sure, but I think the police told him to quit doing that and he said that he has a right to talk on his radio, and he can't hear the radio until the noise is gone and he won't be quitting spraying the insulator. So collectively the neighbors and the police called the power company to get here to fix the insulator so they can quit having to see this guy out there with a garden hose spraying the power lines. Then they came and fixed the problem then. Real quick too.

So maybe that's what you people can do. Then the neighbors will call the power company and they might come.

[W0UZR]

I forgot to mention. The ham more than likely had one of those trigger sprayers, and shot short bursts of water up there.

DON'T SHOOT THE INSULATOR WITH A STEADY STREAM OF WATER !! You will get electrocuted.

[N9LYA]

back in 1978 I had power line interference.. Stopping me from using my SWL Radio.. I called the Indianapolis Power and Light company and within a few dyas heard from their lead RF engineer.. He said they were out and could not fild the problem... I explained to him I told the staffer on the phone that it only happens when it rains. He said he would do his best to be out here the next time it rained.. Two or three rain events later I had a visitor at my door. He it was the RF Engineer he said they came out when it rained found the bad capacitor on a Transformer two blocks away and all was clean and asked me to listen the next time it rained and let him knw if I still heard it or not the entire process was complete within two weeks..


Now that was service.. Thje Engineer told me when I talked to him on the phone that they took interference complaints very seriously as they could get penalties and fines from the FCC.. I supose since then the FCC dropped the ball by giving the ARRL jurisdiction and perhaps the Utilities do not feel the ARRL has any ..

What about joe citizen who has a power line interference complaint that is not a HAM like I was not back in 78... Do they still contact the ARRL...??

Why would the FCC relinqucish this task to a non enforcement non govermental agency...???

Maybe thats why everyone now a days has so much trouble getting interference complaints dealt with....

Maybe next time I have a complaint about my dishnetwork service I can call the ARRL and get them to do the FCCs job..


73 Jerry N9LYA

[K2XT]

W8HDU: "I'm sorry to say the madam's bark is worse than her bite. "

She doesn't even have teeth to bite with. You can read in the enforcement letters on the ARRL site about a ham in the Pittsburgh area who has had problems for 10 years or more! TEN YEARS !! There is an update in the October QST. Eventually the power company told him he would have to pay for their efforts. Read Laura Smiths letter to the utility but be careful, you could hurt yourself rolling on the floor laughing. She really socked the full force and power of the federal government to Duquesne Power, when she told them they had 60 more days to fix the problem or they would have to report to her every 2 weeks thereafter. Yes Sir, that must have really put the fear of God into them.
I wrote to Laura Smith, I copied ARRL on the letter. I told them this was a joke, a waste of taxpayers money. The utility knew for years it was in violation of the law. The FCC should have given them 5 DAYS to fix the problem or be hit with the maximum penalty allowed by law. Why 5 days? Because it only takes 1 day for a crew dedicated to solving the problem to get the job done, and 4 days for the beaurocrats to schedule it. In response QST published an update this month saying what a great job was done by the FCC. Laura Smith never acknowledged my letter.
Someone asked why the ARRL is involved. Because for the FCC to really do their job they have to send technicians into the area where the problem occurs and they aren't staffed to do that. So the ARRL has a deal with them to write the letters on a technical level to explain to the utility how to isolate the defective pole, etc. Then there is a trail of documentation to allow the FCC lawyers to write their threatening letters. But in reality there is nothing whatsoever to back it up, it's just idle threats.
Rick K2XT

[WA7KKP]

Over the years I've seen quite a few instances of power-line RFI, both by poor maintenance of hardware by the power company, and defective equipment used by the customer, which in turn would re-radiate and cause QRM to everything from AM broadcast radio all the way up to VHF TV/FM.

I've been lucky I guess, that I've known the radio technicians at the power company -- and I could just call them and they'd take care of it. They usually were ham radio operators, but that is no longer the rule of thumb.

Most utilities now contract their radio repair to another service shop, and simply ignore RFI complaints, because they know it is poor maintenance, and proper maintenance costs money. It all revolves around the bottom line.

They don't realize that these RFI problems are a precursor to major problems, and sometimes these problems might (and have) collapse the power grid.

Find someone who cares, and keep their phone number in your rolodex for future reference . . . .

Gary WA7KKP